In the light of today's air pollution and increasing environmental problems relating to fossil fuels the demand for electric-powered vehicles increases steadily. For most consumers, electric power is exclusively available at one single place, namely at the respective consumer's home, or the address associated with his/her electricity contract. Of course, this is a severe limitation for electric-vehicle drivers who may want to travel a relatively long distance from a point A (say at his/her home) to a point B, where re-fuelling (or rather re-charging of batteries) may be required before continuing.
Therefore various examples of public charging stations have been developed which allow users to refuel their electric-powered vehicles, for example while being parked in a parking lot. To provide a low threshold for establishing such systems simplicity and low costs are important factors. However, combining these factors with robustness and reliability is challenging from a technical point-of-view.